The CERT PIO: Issuing a Press Release

posted Jul 7, 2015, 11:13 AM by Steve Taffee

During an emergency, CERT teams will generally not be interacting with representatives from the press and media, but will instead direct such inquiries to the Menlo Park Fire District's Public Information Officer (PIO). However, the PIO may ask a member of the CERT command team to prepare a draft press release to highlight the work that CERTs have been doing as part of the relief effort. This draft would be returned to the incident PIO for editing, approval, and distribution.

The Salvation Army has released a video on how to write a press release. Attached to this page is a press release template in MS Word format that may be helpful should you be asked to create such a document.